“I never thought that war would come to Donbass. Everything was so peaceful.” These are the words of an elderly babushka when we evacuated her. She had evacuated Azerbaijan with her family years ago when there had been war in their country. They had resettled in eastern Ukraine. Now they are leaving everything behind again including their son. She and her husband are going to Germany with their daughter and grandson.

While in a heavily destroyed town, we were walking the streets and offering people evacuation.
We had 5 people who were going with us. Then I came to a grandma who said she has no reason to go on evacuation. She heard from neighbors who evacuated, that she would only go live in a refugee shelter, and she didnt want to leave her home. She proceeded to say that no one needed her and she chooses to stay and die in her home. Her son had been fighting and his body can’t be retrieved from the battle ground. All around us the apartments were destroyed or burned. Approximately 10 minutes after a series of glide bombs explode several blocks away she says ” Life is still normal here”.

The reality is evacuation is necessary. The war has come to their town. It’s also a very painful reality that your own home is being destroyed and everything you have is being torn away. It’s easier to try to convince themselves that it will go awa